When I went to get braces 6 months ago, the orthodontist nearly insisted I would have to have teeth removed because there was so much crowding. My main reason for braces, however, was to save my teeth, not have them removed sooner! Having already been through teeth removal for my partially-impacted wisdom teeth several years ago, I was very opposed to the idea of losing more - especially anywhere near the front. So I graciously but firmly told my orthodontist absolutely not...and did a bit of praying that God would make it possible for me to keep my teeth and have them straight.
Today I rejoice in God for giving me the strength for that decision.
The doctor came over to look at my teeth and said "Wow, there is so much space." A few minutes later he said to the assistant, "Go get her xrays, this is incredible." She comes back with the pictures and he studies them closely and says again with awe and amazement that there is so much space now. Everything looks good, so he leaves for the assistant to finish the work. (for the record, she's not really an assistant but I don't know the real title) Five minutes later the other doctor comes over and says "Dr. Fotovat told me I have to come see, he said this is incredible."
When I initially started the treatment they inserted some spacers between my last 3 teeth on each side. It hurt so badly and had such a powerful psychological impact on me due to the food tests I had just embarked on that after 24 hours I returned to the office and totally broke down crying...something I hadn't done in a very long time. Though I tried not to cry, I couldn't help it as the pain was so high, and so, as I talked to my orthodontic confidant, I cried out to God for help.
Almost out of the blue she blinked and somewhat fumblingly said "Yes, lets take those out, we can do something different. And now that I think about it I don't know why we didn't do this to begin with given the amount of crowding you have. Instead of using bands, we can bond the back bracket - a different kind of bracket - to the tooth with a strong adhesive. This really makes a lot more sense in your case." And so she personally removed those nasty spacers and arranged for the other brackets.
I believed God gave my orthodontic confidant the idea when He did but I had no idea the results would actually impress the doctor!
To end with a little humor, I shared this story with my coworker upon getting to the office and he said "You're a textbook case, of course we all already knew that." Thanks, Gerald :) Little did he know, when I was in 7th grade history class I had read so many stories of great people in this world and as I stared mindlessly at another one in my textbook I thought someday I wanted to be there. Cheesey sure, but I'm flattered someone(s) think I might actually achieve that someday. Maybe childhood dreams can come true.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Share your thoughts here...!